Top Suffolk Venues

• Spaces for 50-250 Guests
• 1 Outdoor
• 1 Historic Space
• 1 space at this venue

Fort Boykin Historic Park is an 18-acre county park in Smithfield, Virginia, built around a triangular earthen fort that has stood on this bluff along the James River since colonial times. Originally christened "The Castle," the fort was constructed by colonists over roughly six months after a 1622 attack on the Bennett's Welcome and Basse's Choice settlements prompted the House of Burgesses to order a lookout fortification. It was refortified again during the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Civil War, and today remains open for self-guided tours through its historic earthworks. Beyond its military history, the park offers natural habitat and beach access along the James River, making it a distinctive backdrop for small outdoor ceremonies and gatherings. The site accommodates rentals of 50 guests or fewer, with reservations arranged through the Isle of Wight County Parks and Recreation Department. The park is open daily, March through October from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and November through February from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and guided tours can be scheduled through the Isle of Wight County Museum.

• Spaces for 100-9,900 Guests
• 4 Hotels
• 2 Ballrooms
• 4 Total Spaces

Embassy Suites by Hilton Hampton Convention Center is directly connected to the Hampton Roads Convention Center, placing its event space steps from Hampton Coliseum, about a mile from Bluebird Gap Farm, and roughly three miles from Downtown Hampton's Virginia Air & Space Museum. The hotel offers 295 guest suites alongside 161,974 square feet of connected event space across 40 meeting rooms, including a multi-configurable Grand Ballroom and three exhibit halls. Every meeting room includes business center access, A/V equipment, and on-site event planners. For weddings, the hotel's planning specialists work across a range of traditions and cultures, with packages that include cake cutting, a complimentary suite for the newlyweds, and discounted room rates and free parking for the wedding party. Guests can also unwind at the hotel's Cyprus Grille restaurant, indoor pool, and fitness center, or start the day with a complimentary made-to-order breakfast.

• Spaces for 200-500 Guests
• 1 Museum
• 1 Outdoor
• 1 space at this venue

Founded in 1966, the Virginia Living Museum in Newport News combines a zoo, aquarium, science center, and planetarium under one roof, home to more than 1,100 native species representing every region of Virginia. Its "conservation starts with connection" mission shapes an event backdrop unlike a typical banquet hall: guests mingle among living exhibits recreating an Appalachian Cove, a Cypress Swamp, the underwater world of the Chesapeake Bay, and a limestone cave, with live animal encounters woven into receptions. The museum hosts weddings, receptions, corporate parties, banquets, and celebrations of all kinds for up to 500 guests at a cocktail party or 200 for a seated dinner. Ceremonies can take place in the outdoor Amphitheater or on the museum's main floor, and the rental extends to an outdoor deck overlooking Deer Park Lake and a rooftop patio with a 16-inch telescope for stargazing. A multi-level layout allows dinner on one floor and dancing on another, and behind-the-scenes spaces are available for catering staff and bridal parties to prepare. All rentals take place after the museum closes to the public at 5 p.m.

• Spaces for 36-1,308 Guests
• 1 Outdoor
• 2 Theaters
• 6 Total Spaces

Located at Town Center in Virginia Beach, the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts opened in November 2007 following six years of planning by the Virginia Beach City Council, which set out to replace the aging 1,000-seat Pavilion Theatre with a larger cultural facility. The center serves as a home for regional and community performing arts organizations and hosts concerts, jazz performances, and theatrical productions throughout the year. Beyond its 1,308-seat main Performance Hall, the center offers several spaces for private events, meetings, and banquets. The Miller Studio Theatre is a 2,200-square-foot rehearsal hall with a sprung floor and ballet bars that converts for cocktail receptions, seated dinners, or theatre-style gatherings. The Bill and Anne Wood Founders Room pairs wood interiors with a private terrace overlooking Town Center, while the center's three marble lobbies, connected by dual staircases and lit by chandeliers, can be rented individually or together for receptions. Two classrooms accommodate smaller meetings, and an 18,000-square-foot outdoor plaza has hosted concerts, weddings, and fundraisers. The center provides a list of preferred caterers for events and offers more than 3,000 free parking spaces with ADA-accessible parking in each lot.

• Spaces for 50-300 Guests
• 1 Outdoor
• 2 Historic Spaces
• 2 Total Spaces

The Francis Land House is a historic Georgian-style residence in Virginia Beach, built circa 1804 for Francis Land VI, a wealthy plantation owner from a prominent Princess Anne County family. The home's Federal-period interiors and furnishings interpret the era of roughly 1805–1819, and exhibits throughout the house explore plantation life, the roles of the household's free and enslaved members, and the property's later history through Prohibition and World War II. The house's cellar and its landscaped grounds are available for private events, from intimate dinners and corporate retreats to weddings and receptions. The cellar accommodates smaller gatherings, while the grounds can host tented events for up to 300 guests, making the setting suited to both a quiet celebration and a larger outdoor reception. Rentals include use of the restrooms and kitchen, and hosts are free to bring in their own caterers, including food trucks.

• Spaces for 600-5,000 Guests
• 2 Museums
• 1 Outdoor
• 1 Event Space

The Military Aviation Museum sits on a private grass airfield in Virginia Beach, home to one of the world's largest collections of flying vintage military aircraft from the WWI and WWII eras. Originally the private collection of Virginia Beach businessman Gerald Yagen, the museum opened to the public in 2008 and today welcomes more than 85,000 visitors a year to see warbirds maintained in operational, flying condition rather than kept as static displays. The campus blends museum galleries with authentic historic structures relocated from overseas, including the Goxhill Watch Office, a former U.S. 8th Air Force control tower from England, and Halle 6 Cottbus, a German airfield hangar that still bears battle damage from 1945. Two 15,000-square-foot hangars, each accommodating up to 600 guests, offer climate-controlled indoor space for weddings, corporate events, and holiday parties, while the historic WWI Hangar and the open museum grounds provide rustic and outdoor alternatives for events as large as 5,000 with tents and staging. The museum can also add a private aircraft demonstration to an event rental, giving guests a warbird flyover as part of their evening.

• Spaces for 16-700 Guests
• 12 Hotels
• 3 Ballrooms
• 9 Meeting Spaces

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Virginia Beach sits adjacent to the Virginia Beach Convention Center in the city's ViBe Creative District. The hotel is home to The Cardinal Restaurant & Bar, a bright, mural-lined space featuring artwork by local artist Jeff Tarkenton, serving dishes such as seafood chili nachos, tangy tamarind salmon, and braised short ribs alongside handcrafted cocktails, a dozen draft beers, and live weekend entertainment. For events, the hotel offers 12,040 square feet of function space spread across twelve rooms, from the expansive Grand Ballroom down to smaller salons suited to breakout sessions, together able to host up to 700 guests. A dedicated events team helps plan each occasion. Overnight guests can also make use of a heated indoor pool with an adjacent outdoor deck and an on-site fitness center.

• Spaces for 12-250 Guests
• 4 Hotels
• 1 Ballroom
• 4 Total Spaces

Hilton Garden Inn Virginia Beach Oceanfront sits directly on the Virginia Beach Boardwalk, with the beach and sand just beyond its back patio. Private balconies throughout the hotel look out over the ocean and the activity along the boardwalk, and the hotel is a short ten-minute drive from the Virginia Beach Convention Center. The hotel's event space centers on the Nautilus Ballroom, a 3,120-square-foot room that can host a gala or banquet for guests, alongside an adjoining pre-function foyer and the oceanfront Nautilus Balcony, a cocktail-reception space with on-site catering and A/V equipment. In total, the hotel offers 5,758 square feet of meeting and event space across three meeting rooms, making it suited to everything from conferences to wedding receptions. Two oceanfront restaurants round out the property: the Garden Grille serves freshly prepared breakfast with ocean views, while Lager Heads offers indoor and outdoor seating along with fire pits and live entertainment in season. Guests can also relax in the hotel's indoor and outdoor pools and fitness center.

• Spaces for 300 Guests

Founded in 1916 by a group of Norfolk businessmen, Princess Anne Country Club has grown into one of the premier private clubs in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Set in Virginia Beach, the club's grounds include a golf course that winds through stands of pines and live oaks along narrow waterways, an extensive tennis facility with indoor and outdoor courts, and a modern swimming pool complex. The clubhouse hosts private parties for members and their sponsored guests, from rehearsal dinners and wedding receptions to milestone celebrations and business gatherings. Full-service catering, overseen by the club's Director of Catering and Special Events, manages every detail of an event, with the clubhouse's restaurant, bars, and function spaces providing the backdrop. The club's stylish, understated character has been carried forward by generations of member families since its founding, giving events at Princess Anne a sense of longstanding tradition.

• Spaces for 150-250 Guests
• 1 Bar
• 1 Outdoor
• 1 Event Space

Located at 8th and Atlantic in the heart of the Virginia Beach oceanfront, Festival on 8th is a newly renovated event venue with a modern, industrial feel. Polished concrete floors, vaulted ceilings, vintage stained glass, an exposed brick accent wall, a gas fireplace, and a granite bar set the tone for its versatile floor plan, which can be kept open as one large room or divided into two spaces to suit the event. Festival on 8th accommodates up to 160 guests for a seated dinner or 225 for a cocktail-style reception, hosting wedding ceremonies and receptions, rehearsal dinners, social gatherings, and corporate events. The venue offers full on-site catering, and guests can also reserve the adjacent outdoor Shack area, complete with its own private bar, for a cocktail hour before moving inside. Festival on 8th shares an events team with its sister venue, The Attic at Waterman's, also located along the Virginia Beach oceanfront.

• Spaces for 150 Guests
• 1 Hotel
• 1 Meeting Space

Ramada Plaza by Wyndham Virginia Beach Oceanfront sits steps from North Beach and the boardwalk on Atlantic Avenue, putting guests and event attendees within easy reach of the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center, the Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater, First Landing State Park, and Cape Henry Lighthouse. The oceanfront hotel offers non-smoking guest rooms with ocean views, and on-site amenities including an outdoor pool, fitness center, game room, and business center. Las Palmas Mexican Restaurant serves lunch and dinner seasonally, with a full bar and a menu of fajitas and enchiladas, giving groups an on-site dining option after a day at the beach or boardwalk. For meetings and celebrations, the hotel provides 2,250 square feet of event space, accommodating up to 100 guests conference-style or 150 guests for a banquet. Combined with free parking and a parking garage, the property offers a straightforward oceanfront setting for weddings, business meetings, and group gatherings alike.

• Spaces for 83-130 Guests
• 1 Restaurant
• 1 Waterfront

The Attic at Waterman's occupies the second floor of Waterman's Surfside Grille, at the intersection of 5th Street and Atlantic Avenue on the Virginia Beach oceanfront. A wall of 16 windows offers panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean, giving the space an elegant, yet rustic coastal character suited to weddings, rehearsal dinners, business meetings, and private celebrations. The Attic seats up to 83 guests with a dance floor, or accommodates up to 130 guests in a cocktail-style layout blending seating and high-top tables. Smaller gatherings of 10 to 45 guests can also be hosted in the main dining areas of Waterman's Surfside Grille on the first floor. The Attic holds a full ABC license and provides in-house bar service, and Waterman's culinary team prepares menus for events of all sizes, so hosts do not need to arrange outside catering. The venue is about seven minutes from the Virginia Beach Convention Center and roughly 30 minutes from Norfolk International Airport.

• Spaces for 120-135 Guests
• 3 Outdoor Spaces
• 1 Historic Space
• 3 Total Spaces

Hornsby House Inn is a luxury bed and breakfast set inside a 1933 Georgian home on Main Street in the historic village of Yorktown, Virginia. Built as a private residence, the home served as "The Big House" for the Hornsby and Bowditch families for nearly eighty years before brothers Philip and David Bowditch converted their ancestral home into an inn in 2011, carrying forward a family legacy of Southern hospitality and gathering around the table. Today the inn hosts weddings, receptions, and private events for up to 120 guests across its grounds and pavilion. The Front Lawn, with its iconic front steps, Crepe Myrtle trees, and a backdrop of the Yorktown Victory Monument, is a popular setting for ceremonies, while the Rear Grounds offer a versatile lawn for ceremonies, cocktail receptions, and lawn games. The Pavilion, a 1,900-square-foot indoor/outdoor event hall connected to the main home by a covered walkway, accommodates dinners and receptions, and the Living Room's fireplace, Yamaha piano, and Georgian windows suit more intimate ceremonies and gatherings. Wedding packages can include exclusive use of the historic home, grounds, and pavilion, overnight stays in the inn's guest rooms with homemade breakfasts, and onsite parking for up to 55 cars. The inn sits within walking distance of Yorktown's Revolutionary War battlefields, Yorktown Beach, and Riverwalk Landing, with Colonial Williamsburg about 20 minutes away via the Colonial Parkway.

• Spaces for 170-220 Guests
• 1 Restaurant
• 1 Waterfront

The Spinnaker is a waterfront restaurant and banquet facility perched on piers over the San Francisco Bay in Sausalito's historic downtown, just minutes from San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. Floor-to-ceiling glass walls throughout the dining room, bar, and banquet facility frame views of the San Francisco skyline, Angel Island, Belvedere, Alcatraz, and the Bay Bridge. Built in 1960 by Bill McDonnell and California State Senator Gene McAteer on a stretch of Sausalito shoreline once called Shell Beach, The Spinnaker remains one of the rare family-owned and -operated restaurants in the Bay Area, with Tim McDonnell, Bill's son, at the helm alongside longtime partner and general manager Jeff Scharosch. The banquet facility and its open-air waterfront deck accommodate up to 170 guests seated or 220 for a reception, hosting wedding ceremonies and receptions, corporate functions, anniversary celebrations, and other private events. A separate kitchen serves the banquet facility exclusively, and an on-site event planner coordinates food and bar menus that include oyster bars, chocolate fountains, wine tastings, and espresso carts.

• Spaces for 6-49 Guests
• 2 Outdoor Spaces
• 2 Boats

Yorktown Sailing Charters operates the historic tall ships Schooner Alliance II and Schooner Serenity out of the Riverwalk Landing Pier in Yorktown, Virginia, part of America's Historic Triangle alongside Jamestown and Williamsburg. The company has sailed the York River for over 30 years, guiding guests past the Yorktown Battlefield, the Victory Monument, and working watermen, with dolphins, osprey, and the occasional naval ship or submarine along the way. Serenity is rigged the traditional way, with block and tackle rather than modern winches, and passengers are welcome to lend a hand at setting sail. Beyond its regular day sails, sunset cruises, and family-friendly Captain Mayhem's School of Piracy pirate adventure, Yorktown Sailing Charters offers private charters well suited to weddings, corporate gatherings, family reunions, and office parties. Schooner Alliance II can carry up to 42 guests for a private event, while the more intimate Schooner Serenity accommodates up to 6 passengers. Charters can be customized with catering and beverage service, and the crew works with each group to shape the sailing experience to the occasion.

• Spaces for 100 Guests

North Star is an oceanfront eight-bedroom home in Sandbridge Beach, Virginia Beach, VA, set behind two levels of decks that overlook the beach. The house is suited to family vacations, reunions, and special events, with six of its eight bedrooms featuring king beds, private baths with custom tile, and individual TVs. Guests gather in an open kitchen that seats more than eighteen people, or spread out across the living room, recreation room, and theater room. Outdoor entertaining continues at the private pool, hot tub, and covered oceanside cabana, with a pool table and ping pong table in the recreation room.

• Spaces for 250-400 Guests
• 1 Museum
• 1 Outdoor
• 1 space at this venue

The Watermen's Museum sits on the Riverwalk in Colonial Yorktown, Virginia, on the only privately owned stretch of beach in the village, overlooking the York River. Dedicated to preserving the heritage of the watermen who have worked the Chesapeake Bay from pre-colonial times through today, the museum tells that story through its exhibits while also opening its grounds to weddings, receptions, and private events. Couples and event hosts can reserve the museum's beachfront, complete with a driftwood tree, beach grasses, and sunset views over the river, along with the elevated Carriage House deck and a 30-by-50-foot events tent large enough for sizable weddings and receptions. The museum's administrative office coordinates all rentals directly, and hosts can choose from two preferred local caterers, Chef K Cooking and The Yorktown Pub, or arrange their own. The setting also lends itself to traditional, colonial, or pirate-themed celebrations, with a gun deck available for a ceremonial cannon firing.

• Spaces for 100 Guests

The Ritz is a ten-bedroom oceanfront home on Sandfiddler Road in Sandbridge Beach, part of Virginia Beach, directly on the Atlantic. The house is built for large groups, with an elevator connecting its three levels, both an indoor heated pool and an outdoor saltwater pool, a hot tub on the lower deck, and a wraparound deck facing the ocean. Inside, the home offers a theater room with a 92-inch projection screen, a billiards room, and a game room, giving a group plenty of ways to gather beyond the dining table. The custom-built dining tables seat up to 26 guests comfortably, with seating that adapts for smaller parties as well, and the oceanside living room and top-floor library both look directly out over the Atlantic. With ten king and bunk bedrooms spread across three levels, private baths throughout, and a two-dishwasher, two-oven kitchen built for feeding a crowd, The Ritz suits family reunions and multi-generational gatherings looking for an oceanfront home base in Sandbridge Beach.

• Spaces for 75-250 Guests
• 1 Theater
• 3 Historic Spaces
• 3 Total Spaces

Arts of the Albemarle is a nonprofit art center in historic downtown Elizabeth City, North Carolina, serving as the regional arts council for Pasquotank and Camden counties. It occupies the Lowry-Chesson building, constructed in 1895 as a department store and theater and later home to a Vaudeville stage and silent cinema. After years of abandonment, a four-million-dollar community preservation campaign restored the building into a full arts facility with galleries, a performing arts theater, and studios. For events, the center offers several distinct spaces. The Gallery links a series of connected first-floor exhibition rooms, hosting gatherings for up to 250 guests amid rotating art exhibitions. The Maguire Theatre seats 226 in orchestra configuration and converts to a banquet setup for 135 to 150 guests, with full lighting and sound systems, a projector, and a screen. The third-floor Twiford Room, with its original inlaid wood ceilings and abundant natural light, suits ceremonies, luncheons, meetings, and recitals. Together the spaces accommodate weddings, galas, receptions, and dinners within a restored historic landmark.

• Spaces for 75 Guests

Blue Horizon is an oceanfront estate on Sandbridge Beach in Virginia Beach, listed among Sandbridge Realty's Event Homes for weddings, receptions, and private celebrations. The completely refurbished property spans three levels of living space with sweeping ocean views, ten bedroom suites with private bathrooms, and twelve bathrooms in all. The ground floor is built for gathering, with a video arcade room, an exercise room, and a media room with an 80-inch screen and surround sound, alongside an indoor heated pool. Outside, an expansive paved deck holds a bar, two seating areas, and the largest pool patio on the oceanfront, with more than 5,300 square feet of space, plus a regulation pickleball court. The second floor's central gathering area, with its wet bar and card table, and the third floor's floor-to-ceiling window views over the kitchen and main living room, give groups multiple settings to spread out across an event. The state-of-the-art kitchen features a Wolf six-burner range, two full ovens, two refrigerators, and two dishwashers, and the property is equipped with an elevator, high-speed WiFi, and 18 televisions throughout. Its house rules explicitly allow meetings and events.